04 March 2014

Grand Duke George of Russia visits Russia

Grand Duke George of Russia visits Russia

From February 26, 2014, to March 3, 2014, H.I.H. the Heir, Tsesarevich, and Grand Duke George of Russia made a visit to Moscow. The Grand Duke arrived in Russia to take part in a celebratory meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the Russian Federation, which occurred on the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Russia. The Grand Duke was elected its honorary president.

On February 27, Grand Duke George attended a working breakfast with the Belgian ambassador to Russia, Alex van Meeuwen. In the afternoon, the Grand Duke gave a formal speech greeting those attending the celebratory meeting marking the 40th anniversary of the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Russia. That evening, a dinner was held in honor of the Grand Duke, which was attended by the General Director of the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Russia, Arkady Andreevich Arianoff; the General Director of Eastern Stars Group, G. Shoshitaishvili; other businessmen; and members of H.I.H.’s Chancellery.

In the morning of February 28, the Grand Duke had meetings and discussions on the development of educational programs with Major-General A. V. Kirilin and Colonel O. V. Kuznetsov, the Chair and Secretary, respectively, of the Knights’ Council of the Imperial Military Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. That afternoon, the Grand Duke met with the president of the Imperial Sports Club “DINA,” D. A. Kozlov, and with Professor Vladimir Kvint, a professor of political economy and a Foreign Member Ad Vitam of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who presented His Imperial Highness with copies of his academic works on financial strategy. That evening, Grand Duke George of Russia met at length with the Director of the First Children’s Hospice in St. Petersburg, Archpriest Alexander Tkachenko. The two discussed a range of questions connected to the activities of His Imperial Highness’s Imperial Foundation for Cancer Research, and how the Foundation can collaborate with medical institutions and charitable organizations in Russia.

On March 1, the Grand Duke attended the pine Liturgy in the Church of St. Martin the Confessor in the Novaya Alekseevskaya Sloboda section of Moscow, which was officiated by the His Eminence Metropolitan Arsenii of Istra, the First Vicar of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Concelebrating with Metropolitan Arsenii were the following clergy: the Secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the city of Moscow, Archpriest Vladimir pakov; the Ecclesiarch of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Archpriest Mikhail Riazantsev; the Dean of the Bogoiavlensky Distriсt, Archimandrite Dionisii; the Dean of the Pokrovsky District, Archpriest Alexander Abramov; the Dean of the Sergievsky District, Archpriest Sergii Kiselev; the Rector of Epiphany (Bogoiavlensky) Cathedral in Moscow, Archpriest Ageikin; the Dean of the Donskoi District, Archpriest Alexander Farkovets; the Dean of the Danilovsky District, Archpriest Oleg Vorob’ev; and other church rectors and clergy of the city of Moscow. After the conclusion of the Liturgy, His Imperial Highness warmly congratulated His Eminence on his recent ordination as Metropolitan and on his coming birthday. In accordance with instructions from his mother, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, Grand Duke George of Russia presented His Eminence with the Imperial Medals “Anniversary of the Nation’s Victory, 1613-2013” and the “Commemorative Medal of the 400th Anniversary of the House of Romanoff, 1613-2013.” (For more information, see: http://www.bogoyavlenskoe.ru/news_details/news_details5386/). During the speech es greeting the Metropolitan both in the church and during the luncht hat fol lowed, it was pointed out that Metropolitan Arsenii was the first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church to greet the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duke Wladimir Kirillovich and his wife, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, on Russian soil.[1]

During the course of His Imperial Highness’s visit, he attended a number of business meetings, and also heard a report from the chaplain of the organization “For Faith and Fatherland,” Hieromonk Nikon (Levachev-Belavenets). On March 2, His Imperial Highness met for several hours with members of the Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House to discuss the grave situation in Ukraine, as well as various aspects of the Russian Imperial House’s peace-making, cultural, charitable, and educational activities in Russia and in other territories that once were a part of the former Russian Empire.

On March 3, 2014, H.I.H. the Heir, Tsesarevich, and Grand Duke George of Russia departed Moscow for Brussels.


[1] During the first visit on November 6, 1991, of the Imperial couple to Russia after the 1917 revolution,then Bishop Arsenii of Istra greeted Grand Duke Wladimir Kirillovich and Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna at the entrance to the Convent of St. John of Rila on the Karpovka River in St. Petersburg. His Grace also accompanied the Imperial couple to their meeting with His Holiness Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and All Russia and His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad (the present reigning Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia).

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